Winter Solstice
A year had passed since Dan’s arrival at and in that short period of time, he had grown. He had grown from a boy into a man. His black, unruly hair, was now swept back, falling down to his neck. His muscles had become more defined, and he wore an outfit akin to the one a giant would wear. Perhaps, the influence of Groff. "Well, I guess this is it." Dan said, his voice too, had grown somewhat deeper. He looked at the giant with a smile on his face, the memories of the past year rumbling and tumbling in his head. "KRAHAHA, I didn’t think you would actually survive the year!" Groff stated, as light-hearted as always. In contrast to Dan, he had not changed a single bit. Even his smile, from ear to ear, remained as shiny and as white as it always had. "…Fuck you, man. Glad to know you believed in me." Dan responded, rolling his eyes, as he got into the makeshift boat Groff and him had made, while neither of them were shipwrights. Little Garden had enough trees and other materials to make something that could help on his trip. The “ship” was composed of many wooden branches tied together, and a single branch that stood upright, from which the sail hung. Dan lightly stepped on it, with his right foot, making sure it was steady, before slowly plunging his other foot into the boat. "Here, have this!" Groff extended his forearm, presenting a within his enclosed fist. “With this, you’ll be able to get onto the next island. Drum Island. Perhaps you can get a ship there.” Groff said matter of factly, he sounded surprisingly serious, and his smile dissipated for a single second. "Thanks." Dan said, he had noticed his brief change in attitude but chose not to comment on it. He grabbed the Log Pose from the giant’s hand, and prepared the ship to leave. "REMEMBER THE FAVOR!!" Groff’s voice echoed loudly, and with those words in mind, Dan and his ship, disappeared from sight, and unto the blue oceans, where his next adventure would begin. "Now it really begins…" Arriving at Sakura! 3 days and 2 nights later, Dan managed to make it unto Drum Island. Surprisingly, the makeshift, square-shaped ship had managed to survive, relatively well. Though, as he stepped onto the snowy island, he realized that it probably wouldn’t be able to last more than one, or two trips. The cold felt unfamiliar on his skin, like if he was being spoken to in another language. It was something he wasn’t used to, coming from the tropical Kyuka Island, and later living on Little Garden, where the climate wasn’t much different. "I already wanna leave…" Dan thought, his brows furrowed and a frown on his face. As he continued to walk forward, his entire body shivering, in the near scenery, several, round buildings could be seen. A village! Speeding up his pace, Dan trotted towards the town by the name of Bighorn, which was made evident by a sign at the entrance of the town. Moving his head from side to side, Dan spotted the biggest building, which he assumed was an inn and walked into it without a care in the world. Seated in the far corner of the Inn’s bar on the main floor, half hidden away behind a thick blanket of darkness and shadows, Suzaku sat idly watching the other patrons go about their usual drunken stupor and celebration, telling tales of the words former greatest Doctor and cremate to the legendary , cotton-candy lover . Silently swirling his glass of wine, his eyes swept across the inn for any sigh of Marines or Bounty hunters, after all despite it belong significantly low, he still held a bounty of 5,000,000 on his head. Just as he was about to get up and head to his room, the door to the inn was pushed opened with a bit of force that brought all attention towards the Young teen that wondered in, clearly not being a native judging by his darkened skin tone. The men drunkenly sung, others danced, and few remained seated. Albeit, the few that were seated, were too drunk to do anything else. People could be seen passed out, and the smell of alcohol and sweat accumulated, assailing Dan's nose as he walked in. He awkwardly stood there, his eyes flickering all over the building and he grew anxious from the many stares that fell upon him. " "Why the fuck are they looking at me?" As he remained quiet, the people returned to their business, as he walked towards the bar owner who he assumed was also the innkeeper, trying not to trip, or make contact with anyone. "Excuse me, can I get a room?" he asked loudly. He then leaned in closer, as the loud noise in the place made it difficult to hear others. Meanwhile, a group of men sat together in a table near Suzaku. They were all of age, made evident by their hairy dispositions and huge, dreaded beards. Their bellies were out on the open, exposed to whatever could happen in the inn. "Ahh~" Finishing an entire barrel, one of them stood up, spotting the young man, as he walked towards him in a befuddled frenzy. It was a miracle, as to how the man had not fallen. "Can I buy yer another drink, luv?" the man asked, noticing the wine in his hand. Glancing up at the group of intoxicated men then the one brave one that was attempting to hit on him, Suzaku mentally sighed as he has become irritatingly used to situations such as this being as beautiful , it’s usually why he wears his mask. Without revealing his inner annoyance at the situation, he gave the man a beauific smile, one that left the inebriated group as well as the rest of the bars patron, men and woman alike love struck. "I appreciateth thy gesture but I wilt decline thy off'r." Suzaku replies in his usual delicate and soft tone, once which masterfully concealed all emotions that would otherwise be detectable. Hoping that even while drunk the man could catch the hint that he clearly didn’t want to be bothered, Suzaku got up with the clear intention of excusing himself. "I did bid thee a valorous night". He stated as he casually brushed past the man after giving him another smile. But of course, they didn't get the hint. If anything the man and his crew believed that Suzaku had responded well to his flirting. "Come on luv, I can see yer playin' hard to get!" he screamed across the bar, though to no answer. Then, with a flick of his fingers, he signaled to another man; probably one of his goonies to stop him from heading into his chamber. "Let's give this one more shot, ye? If ye want we can do this in yer room." he said smiling, as the men behind him began to walk and surround Suzaku. Dan, who was unable to get a response from the innkeeper due to all the noise, got a little closer to get a wind on the situation. Veins began to bugle from his temples, not only because of what was happening, but because of the scene, and noise they brought. "Can I get a room?" he asked again, hoping the innkeeper could hear him, as he tried to contain his anger. However, once again, the man behind the bar was unable to hear him, and instead neared the group of men surrounding the young lad. "H-hello?" Dan asked, getting no response, he slouched down in disappointment, his gazes on the ground. "I'm not taking this shit..." Turning around, Dan walked angrily towards the taller, and clearly drunker men. "Hey dumbass," he tapped the leader in the back, and before the man had a chance to react, he punched him, his fist expanding in size as it made contact with the man's jaw. Teeth flew out of his face as the man fell on a nearby table, crashing any contents that were in it. "G-get him!" another one stated as the lackeys jumped towards Dan in an attempt to subdue him. Tch. Smiling his usual beautiful smile, Suzaku was prepared to beat up the group of drunk men who were still under the impression that he was a Woman, however before he could raise a hand, the same dark skinned teen appeared and sucker punched the apparent leader of the group knocking him over a nervy table. Raising an eyebrow at the subtle display of strength, Suzaku took the opportunity to finish the situation before it escalated with the nearby marines being called. Just as the Rest of group of intoxicated men moved to try and subdue the dark skinned teen, Suzaku made his move. Quickly and elegantly he moved in front of the on coming group and raised his hand and formed his fingers into the shape of a heart and before a heart-shaped beam emitted from his hands towards them. As the beam came into contact with the men they were petrified and reduced to stone statues, thus stopping them in place. Seeing that his job was complete and he had unwittingly drawn attention towards himself, something he actively tried to avoid doing. Briefly turning towards Dan he gave him a short bow. "I thanketh thee f'r thy help, howev'r I must beest going." He thanked him before quickly putting on his mask and heading towards the stairs. "W-what?" was all Dan could think about as he witnessed how Suzaku single-handedly defeated the rest of the lackeys without even breaking a sweat. His odd display of powers made him assume that he was probably a Devil Fruit eater, much like him. "Y-you're wel-...thanks!" Dan uttered, to the odd individual. He looked at the petrified men. The whole bar had gone completely quiet, not a single movement aside from Suzaku, who attempted to head to his room. "N-no!, you're not going anywhere!" the innkeeper barked, as he placed himself in front of the staircase. "I-I recognize you! You're that runaway from Wano, aren't you?" he screamed, saliva escaping his mouth. "And you!" he pointed to Dan now, "I'm guessing you're his lackey or something aren't you? Both of you get the fuck out of my inn, before I call the Marines!" he stated. The entirety of the inn now looked at the duo like hunting dogs after their prey. If it wasn't for the bar's policy on no fighting (which Dan and Suzaku had clearly broken), they probably would've been assaulted by literally every person in the bar. "L-lackey? You're misunderstanding, I just decided to he-" "I'LL CALL THEM YOU LITTLE SHITS" the man interrupted, pointing to the exit. Sighing at how out of hand the situation became Suzaku threw some Beli towards to owner, having long figured something like this would occur. "Yond shouldst cov'r whatev'r damageth we did cause, i’m t'rribly s'rry f'r the inconvenience." He told the inn owner before bowing and moving to exit the inn. Before leaving Suzaku turned and grasped the hand of Dan pulling him along with him beckoning him to follow after him. Once outside and a good distance away from the inn, Suzaku turned and bowed to Dan abruptly. "I’m s'rry thee hadst to receiveth involv'd with yond situation." He stated before mentally pausing to debate something before nodding to himself. "I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in the situation, but as you saw those men were persistent." He continued in a more normal if a little regal tone of voice, having decided to forgo his usual act as it was far to tiring to do so especially after the recent incident. Dan was surprised as Suzaku pulled him out of the inn with surprising strength. Once he was free of his grasp, he ran a hand through his hair as he witnessed Suzaku's change in speech. "Heh, thank god you speak normal, I couldn't understand half the crap you said." he said, laughing dryly to himself. "Ahem. Err...anyways, yeah those fuckers were being loud, but you had it covered...what's your name man...or lady?" Dan said, gritting his teeth. Sometimes he spoke without thinking. This was one of those times. Paying no heed to Dan’s question if his gender, Suzaku just smiled his usual pretty smile. "You can call me Suzaku seeing as I have long since abandoned my birth name" was his reply before he glanced around once again. "Perhaps we should find a warm place for the night, I heard the weather here can become really hazardous at night". He suggested towards Dan. Dan nodded, "Alright, Suzaku. Though, I don't think there's any other inns in town..." he said, caressing his chin, as if thinking. Dan began to walk moving his head from side to side, as he attempted to find a building and although he did see many, small houses sleeping in them would probably be illegal. "Let's head to the next town, it shouldn't take any longer than thirty minutes. I think we'd be recognized here...by, well, anyone." he said matter of factly. Noddind in agrement Suzaku thought for a moment before the idea of heading towards the port town as it was the closest and was a quick way to escape if thing went south. "I think our best course of action is to go to the northen port town, seeing as it is closer that any other towns and on the off chance we run into any trouble we can make a quick getaway via ship." Suzaku suggested finding his plan appealing and safer than heading deeper into the winter island.